Blog de Musique

This is a music blog. Different kinds of music. And commentary on said music. Most of the files uploaded will be AAC files (because I'm an Apple guy) so you best have iTunes to play them. Sorry if you don't. (If any links are dead, leave a comment and I'll reupload.)

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Jetpak "Neck Mohican" e.p,

Jetpak were a three piece sort of pop punk band from the UK. They released all of 1 single (Neck Mohican e.p.) and a split e.p. with Understand. Their influences ranged from Cable to 'A' to Idlewild. They were pretty much unknown until they split, and Larry Hibbit formed with members of another band, Floor. Hundred Reasons became more a straightforward rock band.

I like these three songs because they're pop punk but not in the sense of Blink 182 or Green Day. They actually have a touch of British-ness to them. The songs are a transfer for the original vinyl 7" single.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The Saints "One Two Three Four" e.p.

After releasing their debut album, The Saints, they followed it up with an 4-track e.p. featuring new versions of two songs off the album as well as two cover songs, Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High and Connie Francis' Lipstick on Your Collar.

This is another one of my favorite e.p.'s. Four songs that will get you up and dancing.

Slowdive "Peel Session"

Here is the John Peel Session that Slowdive did in March 1991. Three songs from their Holding Our Breath e.p. It features a cover version of Syd Barrett's Golden Hair with Neil on vocals (instead of Rachel's lead vocal on the e.p.)

Ride "6 Live Tracks"

These tracks are from a 1991 radio promo. It features 6 live tracks from Ride professionally recorded at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA. The live version of Nowhere is, in my opinion, the definitive version. Sure, it's Ride pretending to be My Bloody Valentine, but who cares? Overall, it's a nice live snapshot of Ride during their "shoegaze" years before they went all classic rock. Ha ha ha.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

These Animal Men "Speed King" and "You're Not My Babylon"

Post-grunge, pre-Britpop. Just before the backlash against the US grunge scene started with Britpop. There was the brief New Wave of New Wave scene. The sound was sort of a revived mix of late 70's and early 80's British punk rock. Among the many bands that were lumped into the NWONW scene were These Animal Men. These Animal Men were one of the first bands associated with the NWONW and they were probably the ones who defined the attitude as well. Young, white, and cocky boys. Speed freaks. Playing snotty and smart ass punk rock.

TAM released a handful of singles, a mini album, and 2 full lengths. Here are their first two proper singles -- Speeed Freak and You're Not My Babylon. The cover for Speeed Freak is the best singles cover ever. A bowl of amphetamine for breakfast, anyone?speeed kingjobs for boys

Saturday, December 23, 2006

7 Seconds "The Crew"

This is one of my all time favorite hardcore punk albums: 7 Seconds' The Crew. In fact, this was THE first punk rock album I was introduced do. My brother used to play this album when he was 16 and I was 12. I actually didn't get into it until I revisited the album when I was 16. 7 Seconds was a big influence in my life in regards to their straight edge attitude. That's not to say that I'm straight edge but the early straight edge scene definitely showed me that drink and drugs were NOT essential to having fun. These songs reflect that attitude as well as the idea of just being young and rebellious. POONK RAWK!

But I digress... I've split the album up into two files -- sides one and two -- the way the album was meant to be heard. Just one song after the other. Quick and to the point.

The Victims "Television Addict"

The Victims were a punk band from Australia from the 70s. They released all of one single and an e.p. This is their sole single release, Television Addict and I'm Flipped Out Over You. Members of The Victims went on to form the Hoodoo Gurus. This is a nice slice of 77 punk rock. Very primitive sounding.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Slowdive "Morningrise" e.p.

This is probably my favorite Slowdive e.p., if only for the first two songs which, along with Catch the Breeze, are the definitive Slowdive songs. In the title track, Morningrise, you can hear obvious elements of My Bloody Valentine with the guitar pitch bending. On both Morningrise and She Calls, they've perfected the shoegaze sound -- loud washes of guitars that don't even sound like guitars and barely audible vocals. All this only on their second ever release! Classic.

Andre Williams "Poor Mr. Santa"

One last minute Christmas upload--Andre Williams' Poor Mr. Santa. Two versions--naughty and nice. Fuck the nice version. The naughty one is where it's at. If don't have a sense of humour don't bother downloading it.

If you don't know who Andre Williams is, do some research. Then go out and buy some of his records.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Ride "Today Forever" e.p.

Here's one of my all-time favorite e.p.'s. Ride's Today Forever e.p. It was the first release after they put out their first album, Nowhere, and it includes four tracks exclusive to the e.p. The e.p. kind of continues where Nowhere left off. The song, Today, is one of my all time favorite songs. It's very Spacemen 3 in that it's really 2 chords and that's it. And it's really one of Ride's last shoegazer songs.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The United States of America

The United States of America were a band from 1967. I had no previous knowledge of them until 1997. Portishead had thanked them for inspiration on their song Half Day Closing. My friend played me their record and I was completely knocked out. It was crazy psych-ish rock incoporating electronic music. Kooky songs like "I Won’t Leave My Wooden-Wife For You, Sugar. Since their break-up, they've influence loads of bands (including Portishead). Here's the full album. Get more info on The United States of America HERE.

The American Metaphysical CircusHard Coming LoveCloud SongThe Garden Of Earthly DelightsI Won’t Leave My Wooden-Wife For You, SugarWhere Is YesterdayComing DownLove Song For The Dead ChéStranded In TimeThe American Way Of Love

Friday, December 08, 2006

Mega City Four

Wow, I just found out that the former lead singer from Mega City Four died on Wednesday. MC4 were one of the first real British indie bands that I liked. Probably one of the first real "emo" bands around too. Wiz was a great songwriter who wrote from the heart and wasn't afraid to put his honest feelings in a song.

Long before grunge. Long before the New Wave of New Wave. Long before Britpop. There was the indie "grebo" scene. There were bands like Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Senseless Things, and the Levellers. Mega City Four were part of this scene.

I first heard MC4 on Rodney on the ROQ on KROQ. He was one of the few DJs who championed them on US radio. I remember him playing Miles Apart and really liking it. But it wasn't until a few years later that I was able to get something from them when Caroline Records released their third album, Sebastopol Rd., in the States. I was able to get all their albums and singles a few years later. I had a lot of respect for Mega City Four because they truly were an indie band. They were the kind of band that wanted to give their fans value for their money. In their early days, they didn't release any singles from their albums. They chose to just record new songs as singles. To them, there was no point in re-releasing something that was already available on the album.

I only ever saw Mega City Four once when they play in L.A. in 1995 with Ash and China Drum. At first, it was just Ash and China Drum on the bill and then MC4 were added at the last minute. I was super stoked with having the chance to see three of my favorite bands on the same bill. That night, Mega City Four kicked ass. They played a handful of songs from their as-yet-unreleased final album, Soul Scraper. Definitely a great night. And I'm glad I got to see Mega City Four before they split. Wiz went on to form Serpico and Ipanema after MC4 split. Unfortunately, I never followed either band. But Mega City Four will always be one of my all time favorite indie guitar bands.

Here's a few of my favorite Mega City Four songs:

Miles Apart -- their first singleDancing Days are OverClear Blue SkyIron SkyEnemy SkiesWallflowerAndroid Dreams -- their final single

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Suede "Live at the Glastonbury Festival, June 25, 1993"

Here is a bootleg of Britpop legends, Suede, with their first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1993. I believe this is a radio broadcast but I'm not sure it's complete because Metal Mickey is missing. Although, it's quite possible that they just didn't perform it that day. Anyway, the cool thing about this show is that it's one of the first times (if not THE first time) they performed Still Life, which was the planned next single but was replaced by Stay Together and just put on Dog Man Star.

In retrospect, I think Suede were a much better band with Bernard Butler. With Butler, they were this sort of dark androgynous glam rock band. When Butler left, they became a Britpop band. Not that there was anything bad with that transition but, let's face it, the first two Suede albums are really where it's at.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) are have, for the most part, always been known as the band that "did that song from Pretty in Pink." And while If You Leave (said Pretty in Pink song) is a great pop song, people tend to think that all of OMD's stuff was always like that. They had been around since around 1979 and in there earlier days, they had been influenced by everybody from Kraftwerk, Neu!, and the Velvet Underground. Their first few albums still had pop music elements to them but they also experimented with different early electronic sounds, even going so far as sampling non-traditional sounds such as radio waves and ship horns. Here are thirteen songs from OMD's first 4 albums (and a few singles b-sides). These are VERY different from what they are usually known for. Some of it is very ambient and (dare I say it) even post rock sounding.

Pretending to See the FutureThe Messerschmitt TwinsWaiting for the ManVCLXI

These four are from their first two albums, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Organisation. They're all pretty electronic-y but without the dancey disco element (that was typical of electronic music of the time) to them. Waiting for the Man is a b-side cover of the classic Velvet Underground song.

SealandArchitecture and MoralityThe Beginning and the EndNavigation

These four are from their third album, Architecture and Morality. A little less electronic and more minimalist ambient. A&M is probably my favorite OMD album.

The first three are from their fourth album, Dazzle Ships. 66 & Fading, 4-Neu and The Avenue are singles b-sides. The songs are more atmospheric. 66 & Fading is actually another OMD song reversed and slowed down. (That's right, Sigur Ros weren't the pioneering first band to do that.) The Avenue uses (what sounds like construction sounds as it's rhythm pattern. Industrial music before industrial music was cool. 4-Neu is a musical homage to, you guessed it, Neu!

Even though they went more of a pop direction in their later years, OMD created some really cool "alternative" music in their early days. And they could have held their own amongst some of today's more "experimental" "post-rock" bands.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Green Fuz "Green Fuz/There is a Land" 7" Single

A buddy of mine played me this Green Fuz reissue 7" a few years back and I was finally able to secure a copy of my own. The Green Fuz were an obscure garage rock band from Texas. As far as I know this was their sole release. It's a nice piece of fuzz guitar rock. What can I say about the A-side? Musically, it rocks your balls but the lyrics are super cheesy. The lyrics kinda kill it because they're so cheesy. The B-side, however, is the real bonus here. Take a listen to the lyrics and you'll realize that it is of WTF proportions. Something about some guy finding out that from his mom an old man he's known all his life is actually his father. All this AND a strange ballad-y musical backing track. WTF indeed.

Bunker Hill

Bunker Hill was a gospel/R&B singer who worked with guitar legend Link Wray. I was first introduced to Bunker Hill with the song The Girl Can't Dance. What a scorcher of an tune this is. It makes Little Richard look like a total pansy. (Oh wait...) Norton Records recently reissued one of Bunker Hill and Link Wray's singles, Hide and Go Seek. It's not as savage as The Girl Can't Dance but it still kicks ass. Check out this website for more info on Bunker Hill.